Both with Sigur Rós, and in his solo work, Jónsi has always made music that captured the human adventure. Early on, it was obvious that this music would have a profound effect on the making of “We Bought A Zoo.” In preparation for making the movie, we gave all the actors and crew members a copy of Sigur Rós transcendent documentary, “Heima,” (Icelandic for “home”). We all watched the film and listened to the music, and it quickly seeped into our own journey in filming the real-life story of Benjamin Mee’s book. The actors listened to the music during their takes; it was immediately part of the film’s DNA. Even the signs guiding our crew members to the set revealed our inspiration “Heima.” During filming, I sent Jónsi a photo of one of the signs. He wrote back with characteristic enthusiasm. On our last day of shooting in April, I contacted Jónsi again and asked him if he was interested in scoring the film. I sent him a copy of the script, and a Quicktime of one of the scenes. The story affected him. He’d already begun composing new music for the film when he arrived from Iceland with his toy sampler keyboard and a headful of ideas.

His first theme for the movie fit perfectly. Within a week, Jónsi had composed a series of themes that would reflect everything we’d hoped for. In his music were all the highs and lows and passionate in-betweens of the film itself. Over the course of several visits to Los Angeles, Jónsi sculpted and orchestrated a soundscape with elements I’d never had in a movie before: bells, strings, cymbals, toy pianos, even melodies played through a small Dictaphone. The instinct that began the movie had come full circle. On a warm fall night in October, we finished. The e-mail he sent last night before boarding the plane back to his home in Iceland says it all: “It was such a blast.” And so it was. Here, with thanks from an inspired director, and special gratitude to Alex Somers, who helped shine it through a prism of love and wonder, is Jónsi’s first score for film. This is his music for “We Bought A Zoo.”

Backstage at the recent We Bought A Zoosoundtrack event, Cameron tells jónsi the story of trying to get Led Zeppelin to do the cover of Rolling Stone (after the magazine famously trashed their first album).

In addition to jónsi’s score, we thought you might like to see the entire soundtrack listing for We Bought A Zoo. If the movie hasn’t arrived in your country yet, you might want to avoid if want to be surprised.

In celebration of the We Bought A Zoo soundtrack release today, Cameron and jónsi are doing a live Q & A at Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York. They will be discussing their collaboration and signing copies of the soundtrack. The event starts at 7pm (EST) and we will have a live stream right here!

If you want to hear the principals speak about We Bought A Zoo, there will be quite a few opportunities in the coming weeks. The film will have its world premiere in New York on Monday, December 12th. In addition, here’s some of the other notable press: